Vegan Poulet à la Broche

[Spit-roasted Vegan Chicken]

...Julia warns us not to use regular bacon as it will flavor the whole chicken...I used Smart Bacon...just blanched in water for a few minutes...

...all in all...this was a pretty simple recipe...

...I started out by making some chicken-y seitan...

...and then shaped it into a large roast...

...I punched a couple of holes in a couple of cans...

...then I made a spit...by placing the two skewered cans over a baking sheet...

...then I buttered the seitan with Earth Balance and wrapped with blanched Smart Bacon and foil for some stability...

...trussed it all up with some twine...

...and ran the skewer through the whole thing...

...and put the whole apparatus into the oven...

...Julia says to use the same method for determining doneness as for regular roasting...

...so the seitan is done when it is firm and golden brown on the outside...it looks and smells delicious...

...and so...the main course of our Christmas dinner is done...not sure I'd go to the trouble of spit roasting again...as I don't really see any difference in this type of roasting over conventional roasting in a pan...but the seitan turned out perfectly...with no 'bacon-y' flavor...

Substitutions

Chick'n seitan for the chicken
Smart Bacon for the bacon
Earth Balance for the butter

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 242 - 243

Vegan Soupe à l'Ail aux Pommes de Terre

Saffron-flavored Garlic Soup with Potatoes

...this is just a variation of the VEGAN AÏGO BOUÏDO...and it's actually a lot simpler...with no egg yolk/oil emulsion...and it winds up being a clear soup...

...so you start out with some garlic...

...you cook that with some herbs for about 30 minutes or so...and then strain it...

...and you pour it back into the pot...

...leaving you with a fragrant perfectly clear broth...

...add a pinch of saffron...

...to which you add some potatoes...and cook those for 20 minutes or so in the broth...

...just adjust the seasoning and you're done...the colour is not quite right in these photos...it's more of a warm gold in reality...but it's a cold and rainy day here...

...I toasted some rounds of bread with some Daiya and vegan parmesan...and floated one crouton in the soup...

...Julia suggests serving with parmesan...so I sprinkled the soup with some Go Veggie Vegan Parmesan...

...and this garlic-y soup was a warm and delicious lunch!

Substitutions

Daiya Cheese for the cheese on the croutons...but that's not really part of the recipe...
Go Veggie Parmesan for the suggested Parmesan...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking p. 48

VEGAN QUICHE AUX OIGNONS

[Onion Quiche]

...Julia doesn't give any description of this recipe...as it's really a sub-recipe of the main Quiche recipe...but the proportions of the eggs and cream are a little bit different...

...and I also didn't want a crust...so I made it in muffins without the crust...they turned out perfectly...I may never do a pastry crust for quiche again...HA!...only kidding...I really like a pastry crust...

...gathered my 'egg' ingredients...a combination of garbanzo flour (besan), EnerG egg replacer, and Vegan Egg...

...got my onions cooking over low heat (very low)...they have to cook for about an hour...

...then I mixed up my vegan eggs...I mixed besan and EnerG to an egg-y consistency for one egg and then added the Vegan Egg mixed according to the directions for the second egg...

...added cashew cream for the cream...

...and kala namak for the salt...I did not add any nutmeg...not a fan...

...continued cooking the onions...

...added some flour when they were golden...

...and cooked a few minutes more...

...greased a muffin tin with Earth Balance...since I'm not using a pastry crust...

...added some grated Daiya to the egg mixture...

...and then added the onions...

...spooned it into the muffin tin...

...sprinkled some more Daiya on top...

...dotted with Earth Balance...

...and baked until puffed and browned...

...they're so cute...

...and just look at that crust...perfect...

...they were delicious with some spinach and french bread...

...perfectly delicious...no need for a crust...

...and y'all have already seen how well these little guys travel as I took them up to Mom's for Thanksgiving brunch...

Substitutions

Earth Balance for the butter
Cashew Cream for the cream
EnerG, Vegan Egg, and besan for the eggs
Daiya Cheese for the cheese

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 150-151

VEGAN GALETTES AU FROMAGE

[Cheese Wafers]

...I had made Galettes au Roquefort before and they were so crispy and good that I decided that we needed some more cheesy crackers for Holiday snacking...

...Julia says that these 'featherweight' wafers are generally made with swiss cheese...but you can use any cheese you like...you will just have to adjust your flour and liquid based on the type of cheese...

...and since I'm using just nooch (nutritional yeast) for my cheese - I only used a fourth the amount she used of swiss...figuring that has a lot of air in it and nooch does not...it's pretty compact...

...added all the other ingredients...using Earth Balance for the butter...and blended that all together with a pastry fork...

...and since my nooch cheese replacement has NO moisture...I added 1/4 cup of soymilk...I'm sure you could just use water...you just need something to bring the dough together...

...then Julia tells you to do a test bake of one wafer...which I did not do...my mixture looked like it would make fine crackers...

...so I rolled the dough out pretty thin between my handy-dandy pie crust helper...just a big 2 gallon ziplock bag opened up...

...at this point I went ahead and brushed the entire top of the dough with a mixture of corn starch and water...because I'd read that it was a good vegan substitute for egg wash...and also to replace oil in a salad dressing...but I've not tried that one yet...sorry I missed a photo of that part...but I did it here to the full sheet of dough because I was going to use my sweet little tessellating goldfish cookie cutter to cut out the wafers...so I didn't want to do them individually later...

...so...just cut out row after row of little goldfish...probably about 100...

...Julia says to bake them on a lightly greased cookie sheet...but I baked them on (reused) parchment paper...and she also puts a pinch of cheese on top...but since I was using nooch...I just sprinkled some course kosher salt on top...

...they turned out perfectly...light and crispy...and cheesy...I was worried about the pepper...but the hint of heat is a nice one...

...they'll be perfect for some Thanksgiving snacking...

Substitutions

Earth Balance for the butter
just plain old dry nutritional yeast and soymilk for the swiss cheese...about 1/2 cup of nooch and 1/4 cup soymilk...
for the egg wash...I used 1 tsp of cornstarch in 1 cup of water...just cook together...it sounds unlikely...but it works perfectly...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 197

Vegan Egg Yolk and Cream Enrichment...Take Deux

[Sauce Parisienne - formerly Sauce Allemande]

...when you've been at this Mastering the Art of French Cooking thing as long as I have...you're bound to make the same recipe more than once...

...I don't always post the second time around here though...because most of the time I'm not doing anything different...it was just something we really liked and I make it the same way...and I don't get any 'credit' for doing it again...I don't get to increment my counter...so I usually don't post it again...

...but this sauce is different...since I'd gotten the Vegan Egg...I thought I'd revisit some of the recipes that rely heavily on eggs...and now based on what you have on hand you've got a couple of options for this creamy smooth sauce...

...and I'm still not sure why this title is in English...and the bracketed subtitle is in French...

...first...I made a VEGAN SAUCE BÉCHAMEL...

...then I mixed up some Vegan Egg...just using the package instructions...

...then for the cream enrichment...I added some Cashew Cream...

...and just whisked that into the Vegan Egg...

...and then just like with real eggs...you add some of the hot BÉCHAMEL a few drops at a time...so you don't scramble your Vegan Eggs...

...and then you pour this tempered mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the Vegan BÉCHAMEL...

...then Julia specifies that you use a wooden spoon...and stir constantly over medium high heat...

...boil and stir for 1 minute...

...season with salt...

...white pepper...

...and lemon juice...

...then strain through a fine mesh sieve...

...to remove and coagulated bits of egg...

...and these Vegan Eggs are so much like real eggs that there actually were bits of coagulated vegan egg...so I'm really glad that I did this step...

...add some Earth Balance...

...and you'll have a perfectly creamy and velvety smooth sauce...

...to dress up a rather plain 'Breast of Tofu' dinner...

...Julia says that sauces with egg yolk and cream are among the richest and most velvety in all the French repertoire...and I couldn't agree more...

Substitutions

Vegan Egg for the eggs
Earth Balance for the butter
Cashew Cream for the cream

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking pp. 60-61